


The gates

by Hyfriancarousel



Series: Red shoes month 2020 [9]
Category: Red Shoes and the 7 Dwarfs (2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Afterlife, Alternate Universe - Angels, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Angel Wings, Books, Clouds, Comedy, First Meetings, Gen, Humor, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Lists, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, Sins
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-08-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:13:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25804180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hyfriancarousel/pseuds/Hyfriancarousel
Summary: Merlin and Arthur figure their way through a surprising adventure, meeting new people in the process.
Series: Red shoes month 2020 [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1860025
Kudos: 5





	The gates

A hazy, dreamlike state.

Merlin opened his eyes.

Gray clouds colored the space everywhere around him. He was even lying on them.

Feeling lighter than air, he sat up and looked at his surroundings.

Where was this?

A voice called out to him.

“Merlin?”

From the clouds of plain hues walked a familiar figure, just as confused as him. Merlin stared at him.

“Arthur?”

Arthur made his way over to his friend and teammate. This was certainly new.

“You feeling alright?” He asked.

Merlin faced him, not standing up.

“I’m...fine, I think. You?”

“Yup!”Arthur patted his legs and looked at Merlin.

“But Excalibur’s gone.”

Oh, wonderful.

Merlin quickly checked around his waist for his special pack of spells.

They were gone.

“My talismans too.” He whispered.

“A thief!” Arthur looked around, more alert. “Do you reckon this is some sort of trap? An ambush?”

“Maybe?” Merlin stood up, holding his hands to his chest. “Let’s not jump to conclusions.”

Wait, what was he doing?

Merlin looked down at his hands, only to meet pages. He pushed the book off his chest to look at it better.

The cover was empty.

“What is this?”

Arthur tilted his head.

“Uh...no clue. But I have one too.”

Merlin focused on Arthur’s hands, seeing a similar yet differently designed book.

Interesting.

Merlin tried to put his down, but his body refused to. So he pressed it closer to himself.

“Guess I’m taking this with me.”

\---

The road of clouds felt soft to walk on, like snow but weightless.

“Any idea where we are?” Arthur said.

Merlin shrugged. His eyes noticed something shiny, immediately grabbing his attention. He went to the light’s direction.

“Merlin?”

“This way.”

A cloudy path took them to a large, white open space. The clouds were still everywhere as the scenery, but the focus was in front of them.

At the back of this space was a desk, manned by someone with a grey, embroidered robe.

And another detail.

He had wings. White wings.

Merlin and Arthur walked to the desk.

"Welcome to the pearly yet for some reason silver gates of afterlife." He said. "May I have your papers, please?"

The receptionist sounded rather bored. Though his french accent captured Arthur’s attention, causing him to stare.

Merlin kept staring at their shining, folded wings.

The receptionist cleared his throat.

“Sirs. Your papers.”

Merlin snapped out of it. Arthur kept wondering how the receptionist’s hair was staying up in a blonde, swayed spike.

“...Papers?” Merlin asked.

The receptionist pointed his arm to Merlin’s chest, specifically the book in front of it.

“Your books of life.”

Arthur suddenly looked back, crashing into the conversation.

"That's what these are?!"

The receptionist’s face drooped.

“Just give them to me. Please.”

Arthur and Merlin obliged, this time their bodies didn’t try to stop them. They felt much lighter than before.

The receptionist took the books with one hand - how strong was he? - and turned away from them. He opened his free hand, summoning something made out of heavenly light and infused it to them.

Writing appeared on the covers and both of the books opened.

They floated by the receptionist’s side as he pulled up two, long pieces of white paper. The pages of the books began turning with a motion of his hand. With the other, he wrote in the air. Strange symbols that appeared on the white lists.

Arthur leaned closer to look, but he couldn’t understand any of it.

“Sooo,” Merlin broke the silence, "You're not going to…read them fully?"

The receptionist didn’t turn to face him. He flicked through the books with a lot more focus than Merlin could ever muster.

“Of course not,” He said. “That’d take forever. I can’t spend my entire shift reading about your lives.”

Arthur kept staring at the glowing lists, before he suddenly sprung up. He faced the receptionist.

"...Are we dead?!”

A cold feeling went through Merlin. He hadn’t thought of that at all.

Dead?

From what?

“You are dead,” The receptionist answered, cold. “Although some do manage to get here if they have an out-of-body experience.”

Something about the receptionist’s calm and bored nature made Merlin feel like his inner freak out was more than normal in this place.

He tried to be rational with himself. He tried to think of what was going on.

“Are you…what are you, an angel?” He managed to get out.

The receptionist slammed the books closed and looked right at him.

“No, I'm a dinosaur.”

Merlin blinked. He took a breath.

"...What?"

The receptionist leaned over the desk.

"That was sarcasm."

Merlin leaned back.

“So,” Arthur cut in, “Do you have a name?”

The receptionist faced him and went back to simply standing behind his desk.

“It’s Jack,” He said.

Merlin and Arthur exchanged glances.

“Really?” Merlin stepped closer to the desk. “I was expecting something like Ariel or Nymph or... Lucifer.”

Jack looked down at him.

“Well, too bad.”

He picked up one of the now filled papers.

“Let's see,” He sighed as he took a better hold of it.

“Merlin. Your added total is... Millions of lies, over a thousand broken hearts — that you caused — a couple of crimes committed against human laws without a good moral reason…”

He looked up from the paper to face Merlin.

“Should I continue?”

Arthur leaned over.

“There’s more? That sounds bad."

Jack kept reading the list, but only with his eyes.

"It is. He’s not getting in here."

Ouch.

"And you…” Jack looked at the other paper, “Arthur."

Arthur slammed his hand on the desk.

“I am a prince. Address me as such.”

Jack slid Arthur’s hand off the wooden surface with a single finger.

"Those titles mean nothing here."

He went back to reading.

"Your list is mostly the same,” He pulled the list higher, so he could see it’s end, “expect with added acts of violence."

Arthur posed proudly.

“I fought a lot of monsters! One time-”

"No,” Jack cut him off. “I mean you have been slapped by your dates after saying something very stupid to them. A lot."

Arthur turned a little red as Merlin chuckled. Arthur took the list from his hands.

"Why is that recorded?!"

Jack pulled the list away from him.

"Someone in management thought it would be useful." He smirked. "Or hilarious."

He faced the duo with his icy gaze.

"In short,” He let both of the lists fall off his desk, “Neither of you is getting in."

They both gasped.

Well, that’s not good.

"Next, please,” Jack said.

A strong wind started to blow in the room, pulling Merlin and Arthur along with it.

"HOLD ON!"

Merlin grabbed the desk, trying to not be swept away while Arthur took a hold of his foot.

“Surely-" Merlin's grasp was already slipping. "Surely there's a mistake!“

Jack put their books into a pile, standing a bit more comfortably.

“I promise you there isn't.”

Why was he acting like this wasn't happening?

Merlin tried to grab on the desk better, but he kept slipping.

"Merlin!" Arthur yelled, trying to hold on to his friend to not be swept away.

"What if you just didn't look hard enough?!" Merlin sounded more desperate now. "You didn’t even read them!"

Jack looked at them with such a bored expression.

"I don't have time for this."

He pressed on Merlin's hand to slide him off.

"Wait!" Merlin screamed. "At least tell me where you're sending us!"

Jack stopped, facing the pleading soul. He didn't look even remotely friendly.

"The laundry room." He said.

Merlin's eyes narrowed in confusion.

What?

He lost his grip.

He and Arthur got whisked off into the strange, dark abyss located within the clouds.

**Author's Note:**

> Day 9: Dust to dust of @redshoesmonth2020's (tumblr) Red shoes prompt month.


End file.
